End of season round up
I now have just a couple of days left of the 2009 season. Where the last 5 months have gone I don’t know but one thing is for sure, I have had the best summer and seen some amazing things.
Watching the minke whales has been incredible. The excitement onboard when a whale is spotted for the first time cannot be beaten. Whether it has been a distant glimpse of these stinky whales or an hour-long association with the boat it has always been special. On a still day listening to these animals surface has to be one of the best sounds! I was also lucky enough to be onboard to see a minke whale breach 300m from the boat, awesome! And the end of the season looks set to be full of surprises and treats too... on our 4 hour Wildlife Adventure on Friday morning we spotted a minke within 25 minutes of leaving Tobermory. We spent about 2 hours watching the whale; it was clearly foraging hard, circling around us in the tide lines in-between small groups of porpoise. There was lots of food in the area as the whales stuck around for several days in the same area. Just on Sunday I had one of my best sightings of the season, we sat watching a small hurry of seabirds forming when right between them 2 lunge-feeding whales - wow!!
Another highlight of the season for me has to include the basking sharks. Every time I see these enormous fish I am in awe, seeing their wide-open mouths coming towards the boat underwater is such a privilege. This season the sharks have been very good to us; we’ve seen them along the North West coast of Mull almost daily in August leaving everyone onboard extremely happy even when the weather has prevented us leaving the shelter of Mull. We’ve managed to do a lot of photo-id work on the sharks which is exciting. Some have had very distinctive marks and nicks on their fins so hopefully we’ll be able to get a better understanding of these mysterious fish if they are seen again, either in our waters or maybe even on the other side of the Atlantic!
Unfortunately the Orca and Risso’s dolphins have proved elusive to us (so far) this season (I’ll just have to come back again for another season!) but the common dolphins and bottlenose dolphins have certainly not disappointed. Nobody can fail to leave the boat without a huge smile on their face after spending time in the presence of playful dolphins. This was especially true when 4 adult bottlenose dolphins came right into Tobermory bay one morning last month!
Our resident harbour porpoise should also definitely not be overlooked. Watching the tiny calves over the summer nearly everyday and even once hearing them on the hydrophone has been brilliant. Other things to mention quickly which cannot be forgotten are the bizarre looking sunfish which returned in August, the Bloody Bay eagles, otters, seals with their pups, huge rafts of shearwaters, fulmars in flight, diving gannets... and of course... the plankton!!
Ruth
Guide
Watching the minke whales has been incredible. The excitement onboard when a whale is spotted for the first time cannot be beaten. Whether it has been a distant glimpse of these stinky whales or an hour-long association with the boat it has always been special. On a still day listening to these animals surface has to be one of the best sounds! I was also lucky enough to be onboard to see a minke whale breach 300m from the boat, awesome! And the end of the season looks set to be full of surprises and treats too... on our 4 hour Wildlife Adventure on Friday morning we spotted a minke within 25 minutes of leaving Tobermory. We spent about 2 hours watching the whale; it was clearly foraging hard, circling around us in the tide lines in-between small groups of porpoise. There was lots of food in the area as the whales stuck around for several days in the same area. Just on Sunday I had one of my best sightings of the season, we sat watching a small hurry of seabirds forming when right between them 2 lunge-feeding whales - wow!!
Another highlight of the season for me has to include the basking sharks. Every time I see these enormous fish I am in awe, seeing their wide-open mouths coming towards the boat underwater is such a privilege. This season the sharks have been very good to us; we’ve seen them along the North West coast of Mull almost daily in August leaving everyone onboard extremely happy even when the weather has prevented us leaving the shelter of Mull. We’ve managed to do a lot of photo-id work on the sharks which is exciting. Some have had very distinctive marks and nicks on their fins so hopefully we’ll be able to get a better understanding of these mysterious fish if they are seen again, either in our waters or maybe even on the other side of the Atlantic!
Unfortunately the Orca and Risso’s dolphins have proved elusive to us (so far) this season (I’ll just have to come back again for another season!) but the common dolphins and bottlenose dolphins have certainly not disappointed. Nobody can fail to leave the boat without a huge smile on their face after spending time in the presence of playful dolphins. This was especially true when 4 adult bottlenose dolphins came right into Tobermory bay one morning last month!
Our resident harbour porpoise should also definitely not be overlooked. Watching the tiny calves over the summer nearly everyday and even once hearing them on the hydrophone has been brilliant. Other things to mention quickly which cannot be forgotten are the bizarre looking sunfish which returned in August, the Bloody Bay eagles, otters, seals with their pups, huge rafts of shearwaters, fulmars in flight, diving gannets... and of course... the plankton!!
Ruth
Guide
posted by Sea Life Surveys at
2:26 pm
